Popular Chinese Shopping App Likened to Malware

Foreign cyber experts have condemned the popular Pinduoduo shopping app – used by more than 750 million Chinese a month – saying it has features similar to malicious software with “the ability to spy on its users” and gain access to “a higher level of access to data than it’s supposed to have,” according to a report by CNN, which said it can bypass users’ cellphone security to monitor activities on other apps, check notifications, read private messages, change settings – and it’s allegedly tough to remove.

Multiple experts were quoted as saying ‘malware’ on the Pinduoduo app exploits vulnerabilities in Android operating systems to learn about owners’ shopping habits, while some noted that it could focus attention on the PDD group’s sister app Temu, currently topping US download charts and expanding in western markets, the report said, adding that while Pinduoduo has previously rejected claims its app is ‘malicious’ and there was no evidence yet that Pinduoduo had handed data to the Chinese government, the revelations come at a time when international concerns are high about other Chinese apps because of similar features on the short-video app TikTok.

Read the full report: CNN.